Techniques for channel access and transmit queue selection

• US 20050030894A1
• Filed: 08/04/2003
• Published: 02/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Stephens, Adrian P.
• Application Number:
  US10/634,417
• Publication Number:
  US 20050030894A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5638 Services, e.g. multimedia, GOS, QOS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5679 Arbitration or scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5682 Threshold; Watermark
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/28 in relation to timing considerations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/29 using a combination of thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/30 in combination with information about buffer occupancy at either end or at transit nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/50 Queue scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/522 Dynamic queue service slot or variable bandwidth allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/56 implementing delay-aware scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/562 Attaching a time tag to queues
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/566 Deadline varies as a function of time spent in the queue
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6215 Individual queue per QOS, rate or priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6255 queue load conditions, e.g. longest queue first
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6265 past bandwidth allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/00 Wireless channel access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

Various embodiments are disclosed for techniques to perform channel access decisions and to select a transmit queue. These decisions may be performed, for example, based upon the age and number of packets in a queue. These techniques may allow a node to improve the length of data bursts transmitted by the node, although the invention is not limited thereto.

Claims

1. A method of determining when to initiate a channel access comprising:

initiating a channel access if at least one of the following has occurred;

a timer associated with a transmit queue has expired; and

a count associated with a transmit queue has exceeded a threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold may be set for each queue.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold may be set for a plurality of queues.

4. The method of claim 1 and further comprising:

detecting a first packet stored into an empty queue; and

starting a timer associated with the queue.

5. The method of claim 1 and further comprising:

storing at least one packet in a queue; and

maintaining a count of the amount of data in the queue.

6. A method of selecting a transmit queue from a group of eligible transmit queues for transmission:

determining if any of the eligible queues have a timer expired;

selecting one of the queues having an expired timer if there is an eligible queue having an expired timer;

otherwise, determining if any of the eligible queues have a count that exceeds a threshold; and

selecting one of the queues having a count that exceeds the threshold if there is an eligible queue having a count that exceeds the threshold.

7. A method of claim 6 and further comprising:

otherwise, selecting a non-empty queue.

8. The method of claim 6 and further comprising:

detecting a first packet stored in a queue; and

starting a timer associated with the queue.

9. The method of claim 6 and further comprising:

storing at least one packet in a queue; and

maintaining a count of the amount of data in the queue.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the count represents an amount of at least one of packets and bytes.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein the selecting one of the queues having a count comprises selecting one of the queues having a greatest count.

12. The method of claim 6 wherein the selecting one of the queues having an expired timer comprises selecting the eligible queue having a timer that expired the longest ago.

13. The method of claim 6 wherein the selecting one of the queues having an expired timer comprises selecting the eligible queue having an expired timer that has the oldest data in the queue.

14. The method of claim 6 wherein the selecting one of the queues having an expired timer comprises selecting the eligible queue having at least one of:

an expired timer that has the oldest data in the queue;

having a timer that expired the longest ago; and

a combination of an expired timer that has the oldest data in the queue and that expired the longest ago.

15. The method of claim 6 wherein a queue may be eligible based on comparing the queue and status of the queue to channel access rules.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein queue eligibility is defined based on queues assigned to packets of a specified priority.

17. A method comprising:

determining when to initiate a channel access comprising;

initiating a channel access if at least one of the following has occurred;

a timer associated with a transmit queue has expired; and

a count associated with a transmit queue has exceeded a threshold; and

selecting a transmit queue from a group of eligible transmit queues for transmission.

18. The method of 17 wherein the selecting a transmit queue from a group

determining if any of the eligible queues have a timer expired;

selecting one of the queues having an expired timer if there is an eligible queue having an expired timer;

otherwise, determining if any of the eligible queues have a count that exceeds a threshold; and

selecting one of the queues having a count that exceeds the threshold if there is an eligible queue having a count that exceeds the threshold.

19. A method of selecting a transmit queue for transmission, comprising:

determining if any of the queues are eligible based on channel access rules;

if there are eligible queues, then determining if any of the eligible queues have a timer expired;

selecting one of the queues having an expired timer if there is an eligible queue having an expired timer;

otherwise, determining if any of the eligible queues have a count that exceeds a threshold; and

selecting one of the queues having a count that exceeds the threshold if there is an eligible queue having a count that exceeds the threshold.

20. An apparatus comprising:

a transceiver;

at least one transmit queue, each queue including a count indicating an amount of data in the queue, and a threshold;

a timer associated with each of said transmit queue; and

wherein the apparatus is adapted to initiate a channel access if the timer of one of the queues has expired or the count of one of the queues exceeds the threshold.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a transceiver;

a plurality of transmit queues, each queue including a count indicating an amount of data in the queue, and a threshold;

a timer associated with each of said transmit queue; and

wherein the apparatus is adapted to select one of the at least one of the transmit queues having an expired timer if a queue has an expired timer, and otherwise, to select one of the at least one of the transmit queues having a count that exceeds the threshold if one of the queues has a count that exceeds the threshold.